International Journal of Language and Literary Studies

Teaching GR/L2 Learners to Disagree: Pragmatic Competence and Behavior

Vlachou Flora — 2026-10-13

The lack of sources and data from classroom-based research in the teaching of speech acts is particularly problematic in the field of Instructional Pragmatics (Ishihara, 2010; Kasper, 2001; Tateyama, 2019). In a similar vein, an equivalent research gap has been observed in Greek as a second language (GR/L2). In an attempt to address these shortcomings, the current study aims to contribute to the field by providing interlanguage data of the speech act of disagreement in GR/L2, as a result of an explicit instructional intervention (Kasper, 2001). More precisely, the study discusses the structured teaching conditions which were applied in the classroom with the aim to teach the speech act of disagreement to GR/L2 adult learners. It presents the pragmalinguistic patterns of the learners, assesses the appropriateness of their choices and discusses the sociopragmatic practices adopted by them. The pedagogical value of this study lies, in general terms, in examining the benefit of explicit instruction on learners’ pragmatic development and providing interlanguage data of a scarcely explored speech act in GR/L2. Therefore, it aspires to bridge the field of research with the realm of teaching by providing new interlanguage research findings and consequent pedagogical implications.

Between ELF Awareness and Native Norms: Vietnamese University Teachers’ Beliefs about Pronunciation Teaching

Van Nguyen Nguyen — 2026-10-13

The global use of English has prompted renewed attention to native-speaker models in pronunciation teaching and to the role of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF). This qualitative interpretive study explores Vietnamese university teachers’ beliefs about ELF and their perceptions of how these beliefs relate to pronunciation teaching practices. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with four English language teachers at one Vietnamese university. The findings indicate that the participants recognized the global use of English and consistently emphasized intelligibility, while also maintaining a preference for American or British pronunciation as an ideal classroom model. The four teachers reported prioritizing segmental features and stress in pronunciation instruction, while their use of diverse English accents was limited. They also described institutional materials, assessment practices, and students’ expectations as constraints on greater incorporation of ELF-informed principles. The findings suggest a tension between emerging awareness of ELF and continued reliance on native-speaker norms within this particular institutional context.

Using Digital Storytelling to Develop Foreign Language Writing Skills

Athina Varsamidou — 2026-10-13

Digital storytelling has emerged as a promising pedagogical approach for combining language learning, creativity, and digital literacy while providing learners with meaningful contexts for communication. In foreign language education, it can offer learners opportunities to develop written production by combining textual expression with visual and other multimodal resources. This study explores the potential of digital storytelling for developing foreign language writing skills, with particular attention to the linguistic and textual dimensions of learners’ productions as well as the integration of digital resources. The study was conducted with 15 students from the Department of French Language and Literature at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, who participated in a digital storytelling activity in French. The research corpus consisted of 15 digital storytelling productions, which were analyzed according to four criteria: a) the use of an authentic context and its alignment with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), b) language proficiency, with particular attention to orthography and morphosyntactic accuracy, c) coherence and cohesion, and d) multimodal and digital integration. The analysis focused on the extent to which learners were able to construct meaningful written narratives while mobilizing appropriate linguistic resources and integrating digital elements into their productions. The findings provide insights into the strengths and difficulties encountered by learners in digital narrative writing and highlight the relationship between written language development and the multimodal nature of digital storytelling. The study suggests that digital storytelling can create meaningful and engaging opportunities for foreign language writing by encouraging learners to produce contextualized texts, organize their ideas coherently, and combine linguistic and digital resources in the construction of meaning. The findings also underline the importance of providing appropriate pedagogical guidance so that digital tools serve not merely as technical support, but as resources contributing to the development of learners’ communicative and writing competence.

Chinese Translation of Emily Dickinson’s Poetry: A Data-based Comparison of Jiang Feng’s and Pu Long’s Translated Versions

Jianxin Zhou — 2026-10-13

Jiang Feng's and Pu Long's Chinese translations of Poems of Emily Dickinson, a pioneer of Modern English Poetry, are very important for Emily Dickinson studies in China. From each of the translated Version, 217 translated poems are chosen respectively as research objects for a big-data analysis to reveal translation characteristics of the two translated versions. Based on corpora of 217 source texts, Jiang Feng's translated texts and Pu Long's translated texts, and by use of corpus analysis software, Antconc. 3.4.4, and Chinese-word segmentation system, ICTCLAS, a big-data comparative analysis focusing on poetic form and vocabulary is carried out to find out characteristics of the two translated versions especially in stanza-division, line-division, and punctuation translation, as well as in diction. The result shows that in poetic form, whether it is division of stanzas or lines, or arrangement of punctuation, Pu’s translation is more faithful than Jiang's to source texts; and in diction, Jiang’s translation is more concise and flexible, while Pu’s translation is more smooth and fluent and has the overall trend of adhering rigorously to source texts.

From Feminine Sensibility to Gendered Evaluation in Modern Greek Poetry Criticism

BARBARA ROUSSOU — 2026-08-24

This article examines gendered evaluation across the broader span 1974–2024 through two clusters of reviews published during 1986–2002 and 2019–2024. It asks whether the decline of explicitly gendered classifications led to a more equal distribution of critical attributes or whether the older associations of “feminine sensibility” were instead recast in apparently neutral or formalist language. The study combines a brief genealogy, extending from nineteenth-century criticism through the interwar period, with a qualitative, comparative close reading of five pairs of reviews, each pair written by a single critic and concerning a woman poet and a man poet. Drawing on feminist theories of gender, literary value, and critical discourse, it examines the critical treatment of form, technique, intellectual authority, embodiment, experience, and universality. The findings indicate substantial but incomplete change. Women poets are increasingly credited with formal control, intellectual force, and poetic autonomy. Nevertheless, gendered asymmetries persist in the ways literary value is conferred. Women’s writing remains more readily marked as bodily, personal, natural, or exceptional, whereas men’s writing more easily enters the unmarked registers of philosophical reflection and universal significance. Gender thus survives less as an explicit classification than as an uneven structure of critical recognition.

Experiential Learning Through the Eyes of Teacher-Dreamers: A Phenomenology

Sergio Agner — 2026-10-13

Teaching internship provides pre-service teachers with opportunities to experience the realities of the teaching profession beyond theoretical preparation. This study aimed to explore the lived experiences, challenges, and coping mechanisms of pre-service teachers during their teaching internship and how these experiences shape their professional identity, perceptions of teaching, and career intentions. This qualitative study employed a phenomenological approach involving fifteen fourth-year Bachelor of Elementary Education pre-service teachers from a non-sectarian institution. Participants were selected through purposive and snowball sampling. Data were gathered through in-depth interviews and a focus group discussion using a semi-structured interview guide and analyzed through thematic analysis. The findings unearthed how pre-service teachers experienced complex classroom realities, including diverse learner behaviors, the gap between theory and practice, multiple subject demands, and independent classroom management. They also encountered challenges involving institutional expectations, limited instructional resources, and emotional and instructional pressures. To cope, participants practiced emotional regulation, sought support from peers and mentors, adapted their teaching strategies, and engaged in reflective practice. Overall, teaching internship fostered professional growth and strengthened commitment to teaching among some participants, while prompting others to reassess their readiness and future career intentions.

Building ACLA-PH: A Multiplatform Corpus of Philippine Gayspeak

John Paulo Herrera — 2026-10-13

The rapid expansion of digitally mediated communication has transformed the nature of linguistic data and challenged traditional approaches to corpus construction. These challenges are particularly evident in documenting Philippine Gayspeak, a dynamic and multilingual linguistic repertoire characterized by continual lexical innovation, multimodal communication, and platform-dependent interaction. This study introduces ACLA-PH (A Corpus Linguistic Approach to Philippine Gayspeak), a multiplatform corpus designed to document contemporary Philippine Gayspeak across publicly accessible digital environments. Employing a methodological research design, the study examines the processes involved in corpus design, data selection, sampling, annotation, metadata architecture, multimodal representation, and ethical data collection. The findings demonstrate that constructing corpora for rapidly evolving digital discourse requires methodological principles that extend beyond traditional corpus linguistic practices. Building on these findings, the study proposes the Rolling Corpus Model, which conceptualizes corpus development as a process of planned and continual expansion, and the Adaptive Digital Corpus Framework (ADCF), which integrates authenticity, platform sensitivity, multimodal integration, layered annotation, ethical reflexivity, and adaptive sustainability. Although developed through Philippine Gayspeak, these methodological innovations offer a framework that may be adapted for documenting multilingual, multimodal, and rapidly evolving forms of digital discourse, thereby contributing to ongoing discussions on the future of corpus construction in the digital age.

Exploring English Language Anxiety and Academic Performance in Technical-Vocational Tracks

Angie Ngujo — 2026-10-13

This study aimed to determine the differences in English language anxiety levels among Technical-Vocational-Livelihood (TVL) students and examine the relationship between English language anxiety and academic performance in TVL subjects at Sta. Rosa National High School–Senior High School, Olango Island, Cebu. A descriptive, comparative, and correlational research design was employed among 112 Grade 12 students enrolled in Cookery, Dressmaking, and Shielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW). Data were collected using an adapted Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale and official grades in TVL subjects. Mean, standard deviation, one-way analysis of variance, and Pearson’s correlation coefficient were used to analyze the data. Results showed that students experienced consistently low levels of English language anxiety across the measured dimensions, while their academic performance was generally very satisfactory. No significant difference in English language anxiety was found among the three TVL strands. However, a weak positive, statistically significant relationship was found between English language anxiety and academic performance. The findings suggest that although students generally experienced low anxiety, even minimal levels may be associated with academic outcomes.

Ecological Commodification and Capital Accumulation in R. K. Narayan’s The Financial Expert

Mostak Hossain — 2026-10-13

This study explores how land, agrarian labour and social relations are transformed into abstraction of financial value within the fictional world of Malgudi in R. K. Narayan’s The Financial Expert (1952), focusing especially on the relationship between the ecological resources and the new formations of capital accumulation. The study aims to examine the ideological and material processes that transform communal and ecological forms of value into exchange, credit and collateral and to expand the novel’s interpretive scope beyond its traditional reading as social comedy or character study. The research is based on a close reading of the text, using a qualitative, theory-based approach that draws on Marx’s (1990) theories of capital accumulation and primitive accumulation and Huggan and Tiffin’s (2010) postcolonial ecocriticism, with an emphasis on the banyan tree, the Co-operative Land Mortgage Bank, the moneylending economy, and Margayya’s domestic sphere as interdependent spaces that redefine relationships between nature, labour, and economic value. The analysis shows that financial accumulation in the novel depends upon the abstraction of value from the ecological and social conditions that sustain material life. The novel’s comic and cyclical structure, moreover, reveals the recurrent tensions produced by this process. The study therefore argues that The Financial Expert (1952) offers an important framework for understanding the intersections of ecology, finance, and capital accumulation in postcolonial fiction.

Translating Political Discourse in Arabic News Subtitles: Ideology and Framing

Jamal Alrashedi — 2026-10-13

This study examines how two transnational Arabic news outlets translated and recontextualized English political statements during the 12-day Iran–Israel war of June 2025. A purpose-built, source-controlled comparable corpus aligned 27 verified English political propositions with one Al Arabiya and one Sky News Arabia rendering, yielding 54 source–target comparisons drawn from 47 unique Arabic articles. A single Arabic–English bilingual coder analyzed source match, translation and recontextualization strategy, modality and evaluation, social-actor representation, agency, responsibility, and framing. The analysis integrated research on journalistic translation with Munday’s model of evaluation, van Leeuwen’s social-actor framework, Entman’s framing functions, and Baker’s narrative approach. Fifteen paired units (55.6%) showed substantive convergence and 12 (44.4%) showed divergence. Close translation was the most frequent operation in both outlets, although Sky News Arabia used paraphrase more often. The most consequential contrasts involved certainty, explicit violence, actor visibility, causal responsibility, metaphor, discourse presentation, specificity, and headline salience. These shifts sometimes strengthened, weakened, or redirected problem definitions, causal attributions, and evaluations, whereas diplomatic and de-escalatory recommendations were generally preserved. Because intensification and mitigation occurred in both outlets and convergence remained slightly more common than divergence, the findings support selective, context-dependent recontextualization rather than a stable outlet-wide ideological transformation. Methodologically, the study illustrates the value of proposition-level source verification and paired-outlet control for distinguishing translation shifts from broader journalistic reframing.

Perceived Writing Self-Efficacy Across Gender and Study Level among EFL Undergraduates: A Mixed-Methods Study

Adil Erjaila — 2026-10-13

While extensive research has underscored the role of self-efficacy in academic performance, far less attention has been given to how writing self-efficacy develops and varies across educational stages and gender. Recognizing this gap, the present study employs a correlational cross-sectional design to examine Moroccan university students’ writing self-efficacy beliefs and to explore potential differences across study levels and gender. Data collection included 177 students from semester 2 and semester 6, who completed a writing self-efficacy scale assessing four dimensions: linguistic, self-regulatory, genre-based, and class performance, followed by semi-structured interviews with 14 students. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, while qualitative data were processed thematically. Results indicated that students reported the highest self-efficacy in linguistic skills, followed by self-regulatory and genre-based skills, with the lowest in class performance self-efficacy. Analysis revealed a statistically significant difference in overall self-efficacy across study levels, with higher-level students demonstrating greater confidence. However, no significant difference was observed between male and female students. These quantitative findings suggest that self-efficacy in academic writing may develop with academic progression but is not strongly influenced by gender differences. Interview data indicated that Moroccan undergraduates perceive writing self-efficacy as a dynamic and evolving construct, influenced by personal experiences, social interactions, and emotional factors. The results have important implications for instructional practices aimed at fostering students’ confidence and competence in academic writing at the tertiary level.

Filipino Teachers’ Experiences in Contextualizing Grammar Instruction for EFL Learners in Thailand

Jonil Macalam — 2026-10-13

This study examined how English grammar teaching has evolved towards more contextualized methods to improve communication skills. However, challenges remain in EFL settings like Thailand, where exposure to English is limited. Even with a notable number of Filipino teachers in the Thai education system, research on how they adapt their grammar instruction has not been done. This study investigated the experiences and teaching methods of Filipino ESL teachers in Thailand, focusing on how they contextualize grammar lessons. Using a descriptive qualitative research design, data were gathered through semi-structured in-depth interviews with Filipino teachers currently working in Thai schools. The data were analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis to find common patterns in teaching practices and challenges. Key findings showed that teachers adjusted their roles through significant cultural adaptation. They often included Thai cultural norms and the use of native language support to help bridge language gaps. Participants encountered major challenges, such as students’ first language interference and limited vocabulary. They addressed these issues with learner-centered methods like role-playing, authentic materials, and real-life scenarios. Additionally, the study highlighted that these teaching experiences led to professional growth. This growth improved the teachers’ ability to adapt their teaching styles and manage their classrooms, despite facing systemic challenges. The study concludes that effective grammar instruction in this context requires a mix of cultural sensitivity and creative support rather than strict adherence to traditional rules. These findings have important implications for teacher training programs and curriculum design, highlighting the need for culturally responsive teaching in foreign language education.

Integrating Artificial Intelligence Tools into English Language Teaching: Opportunities and Challenges for Teachers

Amir Abdulhussein Hashim Albuhmedee — 2026-10-13

Over the past decade, the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in education has shifted from supportive digital tools to more sophisticated systems with an active learning and teaching function. The present study discusses literature between 2021 and mid-2025 on the use of AI tools in English Language Teaching (ELT), with a specific concentration on teachers' attitudes, potential, and concerns. A PRISMA-guided methodology drove the search and screening of 65 peer-reviewed papers, case studies, and practitioners' reports from around the globe. The review classifies main categories of AI applications, including adaptive learning systems, automatic evaluation systems, conversational agents, translation and multimodal tools, and AI literacy tools. The evidence points to potential benefits, such as personalized learning, productivity gains for teachers, enhanced learner engagement, and enhanced access for students from low-resourced environments. Simultaneously, key issues are flagged concerning pedagogy, infrastructure, teacher education, ethics, privacy, and professional identity. Case studies report on actual teacher and student experiences using ChatGPT, Duolingo, and Grammarly, illustrating possibilities as well as dangers for classroom adoption. The review further points towards the incorporation of AI literacy in teacher training, provision of ongoing professional development, and building critical digital literacy. The findings first and foremost signal that the successful use of AI in ELT should appropriately weigh teaching methods and technological innovation, moral rights, and contextualization in their upholding of fairness and longevity.

Representation and Absence: Race and Ethnicity in the World’s Best-Selling ELT Coursebook

Derek Hopper — 2026-10-13

Claims about racial and ethnic representation in ELT materials are frequently made without specifying the demographic standard against which representation is being judged. As a result, the same data may support different conclusions. This study applies three explicit benchmarks — United Kingdom publisher-country demographics, global population demographics, and global English language learner demographics — to the six Student Books of the Headway 5th edition, a series marketed as the world’s best-selling adult English course. Every photographed human figure whose racial or ethnic identity was visually legible was counted and assigned to one of eight categories. Of 1,877 photographed figures, 1,823 were codeable and 54 were recorded as ambiguous and excluded from benchmark comparisons. A second coder independently recoded a systematic sample of 197 pages (20.2% of the corpus), identifying 414 figures against the primary coder’s 415, with 98.3% category-overlap agreement. White figures account for 78.2% of the codeable corpus and Black figures for 9.0%. The three benchmarks yield substantially different readings of these results: against United Kingdom census data the White share sits marginally below the national proportion and the Black share at more than double it, while against global population and global learner benchmarks the White share is several times larger than any corresponding demographic proportion. Southeast Asian figures account for 1.2% of the codeable corpus, and no figure in the series was coded as Central Asian, despite Southeast and Central Asian populations forming a substantial and growing share of English language learners worldwide. The study argues that specifying demographic benchmarks is a precondition for interpretable claims about representation, and documents a pattern of visual absence that a Black/White framing of diversity does not capture.

Forced Legibility and Relational Dignity in Marwah di Ujung Bara

Mhd. Rasid Ritonga — 2026-10-13

This article examines how Fitriadi’s Acehnese novel Marwah di Ujung Bara (2011) represents civilian insecurity amid political violence and redefines dignity through interpersonal relations. Using qualitative interpretative close reading, the study analyzes scenes of surveillance, loyalty testing, ethnic resentment, student activism, negotiation, apology, and blood donation. It develops two concepts from the text. Forced legibility describes the pressure placed on civilians to make their political or ethnic identity readable through rigid categories of loyalty and suspicion. Relational dignity emerges when characters recognize the humanity of those whom political conflict has taught them to distrust. Their willingness to protect another person’s life challenges the assumption that ethnic identity determines human worth. The findings also reveal how civilians become vulnerable when ordinary conduct is interpreted as evidence of political allegiance. Yet, they do not simply submit to these pressures. Through public dissent and personal relationships, they challenge the judgments imposed upon them. These findings extend discussions of war literature and world literature by drawing on two concepts from Aceh’s particular historical experience that may also illuminate literary representations of conflict elsewhere.

Between Arabic and English: Code-Switching, Code-Mixing and Lexical Choice Across Jordanian Public, Private, and International High School Sectors

Amal Abu Khalil — 2026-10-13

Arabic and English use appears to be increasing in the daily communication of young Jordanians, but it may differ across educational contexts. This study analyzed Arabic–English code-switching (CS), code-mixing (CM), and lexical choice among students in public, private, and international schools in Jordan. A quantitative comparative design was used. The research used two instruments to collect data: first, recorded individual interviews conducted with 18 students for the CS and CM analyzes. Second, picture-naming tasks were collected from 347 students in Grades 10–12 to investigate students’ lexical choice in expressing familiar concepts. The classification of CS follows Poplack’s classification, and CM follows Muysken’s typology. Statistical comparisons were made across the school sectors and between genders. The results showed that CS differed significantly across school sectors, occurring among international and private school participants but not among public-school participants. CS (68.9%) was dominated by inter-sentential switching, and no significant gender difference was detected in the interview sample. In contrast, no significant differences in CM frequency across school sectors or between genders were observed, but insertion clearly predominated across all observed CM patterns (94.1%). Picture names varied significantly across sectors. Public-school students preferred Arabic lexical forms, while international-school students preferred English forms, and private-school students often fell between the two groups. The findings point to the need to consider both the educational language environment and individual lexical items when studying bilingual language practices, and indicate that further studies are needed to examine differences in English exposure and proficiency that may be associated with these practices.

Teaching and Assessing Critical Thinking in Higher Education: A Cross-Disciplinary Study

AHLAME BOUMEHDI — 2026-10-15

Harnessing students’ 21st-century skills has broadly been the core discussion of recent educational reform worldwide. Pertaining to this, soft skills have gained attention and become an increasingly important cornerstone of higher education discourse. Among these skills, critical thinking plays a crucial role across disciplines; however, research has examined its teaching and assessment practices from a single angle, overlooking the role of academic disciplines in shaping these aspects. Correspondingly, this qualitative study examines the potential differences in the teaching and assessment of critical thinking in two contrasting disciplines, namely Mathematics and English Studies. Data were collected through a qualitative survey questionnaire with fourteen professors of English Studies and Mathematics at École Normale Supérieure, Moulay Ismail University of Meknes. The findings reveal clear disciplinary differences in how critical thinking is conceptualized and enacted. While both disciplines highly value critical thinking, they understand and implement it differently. These differences relate to discipline-specific epistemologies and structural constraints. Consequently, this study’s findings may provide a basis for further research into how discipline-specific epistemologies and structural constraints shape the teaching and assessment of critical thinking.

A Study on a Mental Health Education Model for University Students Based on Expressive Arts Therapy

Christine Salupen — 2026-10-16

First-year university students often face considerable pressure related to psychological adjustment, and traditional lecture-based mental health courses have limited effects on improving emotion regulation. This study examined the use of expressive arts therapy as a classroom intervention and observed changes in students’ psychological experiences and emotion-processing habits. A quasi-experimental pretest–posttest control-group design was adopted. Two intact first-year classes taking a compulsory public mental health course at one university were selected by convenience sampling and randomly assigned to the experimental and control conditions by drawing lots; individual students were not randomly assigned. The experimental group (n = 43) received eight weeks of expressive arts therapy intervention, while the control group (n = 42) continued with routine classroom teaching. Data were collected before and after the intervention using the SCL-90 and the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ). Before the intervention, no statistically significant differences were found between the two groups. After the intervention, the experimental group showed significant decreases in SCL-90 scores for anxiety, depression, interpersonal sensitivity, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms, an increase in ERQ cognitive reappraisal scores, and a decrease in expressive suppression scores (P < 0.05), and post-intervention between-group effect sizes were moderate to large (Hedges’ g = 0.70–1.26). The control group showed no significant changes. Within this single-site sample of two intact classes, the findings suggest that expressive arts therapy may help alleviate negative psychological experiences and support more adaptive emotion regulation. Because of the small sample and the absence of individual random assignment, the findings are context-specific and should not be generalized to university students broadly.